Airlines Stocks Down Amid Fears Of Libyan Terrorists

Airline stocks lost altitude Wednesday with the decline lead by Delta Air Lines, Inc.

. The drop coincides with reports in right-wing media that aircraft at the Tripoli airport could be used in terrorist attacks. Also Wednesday, Delta Air Lines ( DAL ) reported that August revenue per passenger mile grew 3.01 percent -- in line with its earlier forecast for a 2 percent to 4 percent gain for the third quarter. The report, by Matthew Continetti's Washington Free Beacon, was picked up by Fox News, the Drudge Report and the Washington Times newspaper, which is affiliated with the Unification Church. The report said the U.S. state department "can't confirm" an assertion by Free Beacon that 11 commercial jetliners had been stolen from the airport, which was captured last month by an Islamist faction fighting in Libya. The story quoted an unnamed federal official,"apparently not with the State Department as saying "there are a number of commercial airliners in Libya that are missing." Airlines went into a prolonged tailspin following terrorist attacks of 2011. Wednesday's downturn appeared to wipe out most of earlier gains gains in the sector, which rallied Tuesday on falling oil prices. Delta was off 5 percent in mid-morning trading Tuesday at $38.87 a share; American Airlines

dropped 3.6 percent to $39.05 and United Continental

was off 3 percent to $48.52 a share. Most others in the group were off by between 1 percent and 2 percent. reported that its total system traffic increased 3.1 percent to 20.0 billion Revenue Passenger Miles, or RPMs, in August 2014, from 19.4 billion RPMs, prior year. Total system capacity was 22.9 billion Available Seat Miles, or ASMs, compared to 22.3 billion ASMs, an increase of 2.7%. Total system load factor was 87.6%, compared to 87.3%, a year ago. Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/delta-air-lines-aug-traffic-up-31--quick-facts-20140903-00515#ixzz3CGB98D4K Matthew Continetti A senior State Department counterterrorism official declined to comment on reports of the stolen jetliners. A second State department official sought to downplay the reports. “We can't confirm that,” he said. Washington Free Beacon